2019 Speakers

Joanne Hand

Hagar New Zealand

Joanne spent twenty years working with Kurdish women and girls in Turkey, focussing on projects to empower women and girls, providing both educational opportunities as well as setting up small, community-based businesses and services.

Over the years, Joanne has engaged in many of the social justice issues in the Middle East that disproportionately impact women and girls, such as violence against women, sexual exploitation, the spread of HIV, mental health issues, and gender equity.

"Severe human rights abuse due to human trafficking, sexual exploitation and gender-based violence, is a gritty issue to tackle, but our world will not be free of it if we do nothing, say nothing. It is our commitment to learn about the issues, comprehend their impact in our world, and begin to make better decisions on how we choose to live our lives, that we will create the space for valuing all human beings and protecting their right to freedom."

Joanne has a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a minor in Women’s Studies, and a Masters in Nonprofit Management from the University of Central Florida. For more visit www.hagar.org.nz

Barry Coates

Well known champion for social justice, Barry Coates was involved when ethical investing in the UK was just starting in the early 1990s, using his experience at WWF and his Masters degree from Yale University.

He went on to lead NGOs, best known as the CEO of Oxfam New Zealand for many years. He worked to mainstream fair trade (working with some great allies) and won awards including the Sustainability Champion award from the Sustainable Business Network. Entering politics, he was a Green Party list MP in 2016-17.

Recently he has founded Mindful Money, a social enterprise which works to empower Kiwis to align their investments with their values, making ethical investment a force for good. For more visit www.mindfulmoney.nz

Erica Gadsby andDeborah de Graaf

Founders - ReCreate

Erica Gadsby and Deborah de Graaf, founders of ethical boutique streetwear label ReCreate, are the Flick Electric People’s Choice Winners of the inaugural Ceres Organics GOOD PEOPLE Awards 2018, run by Good Magazine.

Erica and Deborah are on a mission with ReCreate to transform the lives of marginalised people in Dey Tmey, Cambodia. Originally slum dwellers who were evicted from Phnom Penh to make it more attractive for tourists, their workers now have hope for a better future with full sewing training, safe and fair employment, new life skills and confidence, and better community services. Erica and Deborah certainly are Good People!

Their Award and the support they have received shows, they say, that New Zealanders are becoming more and more aware that ethical and sustainable fashion is not only possible, but the way forward. Customers are no longer OK with exploitation but want to empower the people who make their clothes as well as those who grow the cotton, through weaving and dying the fabric, and the environments they live in. For more visit www.recreatestore.co.nz

Karishma Kelsey

Founder - Karishma Design

Social justice entrepreneur and advocate of ethical trade and sustainable practices, Karishma Kelsey is currently researching the impacts of fair-trade on communities and circular economic solutions in the textile industry whilst promoting ethical artisan trade and preservation of arts through the creation of slow fashion ranges.

Witnessing the negative impacts of the fashion industry on workers and communities, Karishma decided that the only way to make a stand was to be different and disruptive. In 2003 she founded Karishma Design, a social justice enterprise disrupting the fashion industry through ethical practices that empower and transform everyone from the raw material suppliers, artisans and makers to us, the wearers.

Karishma Design has created opportunities for social economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities using fair trade practices in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa and now Sri Lanka, by building trusting relationships with artisans and communities, one community at a time. For more visit www.karishmadesign.com

Tim Holt

Grounded Coffee/Scarborough Fair

100% Fair Trade and 100% Organic, Grounded Responsible Coffee says it is responsible coffee for responsible consumers. Its purpose, it says, is "to grow the community of people making a difference by choosing to produce and consume products that are more sustainable. We call this responsible consumption. The coffee industry led the way, developing Organic and Fairtrade products. We are now striving to take this to the next level..."

After starting small, artisan and with passion, Grounded Coffee and Scarborough Fair (tea) have now become mainstream as these brands move into FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in supermarkets nation-wide. Is this what the ethical trade community should be working towards to increase demand and have a greater impact? If so, Tim Holt, Sales Manager for Cooks Global Foods, is the person to tell us how.

Tim has extensive experience and a long-term passion for the FMCG industry and New Zealand businesses. His experience working with both Retailers and Suppliers to the industry has enabled him to balance the needs of both in bringing new products to the market and helping existing businesses to understand and develop the strategies and opportunities they may have. Recently Tim has been consulting across the industry working with companies to bring these to the market. For more visit www.groundedcoffee.co.nz

Heather Roberts

Just Kai

10 years ago Heather was horrified to learn that a third of all cocoa is grown in the Ivory Coast and a third of that by child slaves. So she stopped buying non-fair trade cocoa products and started 'Just Kai' (justkai.puriri.nz). Since 2016 Heather has maintained a wide-ranging list of cocoa products with reputable worker welfare certifications.

Using research skills gained through her MSc, Heather has more recently worked to identify fish brands that are slave and child labour free, from the factory to the boats. Twenty million people are enslaved in the fishing, agriculture and construction industries, in domestic labour and factory work. These people work to make the products we use: with our buying choices, we have the power to set them free.

Heather likely wouldn't have survived a chronic illness if she hadn't been born in a wealthy country like New Zealand. She works towards a world where everyone has the same opportunities. Our consumption choices, she says, are an important tool in building that world. Heather blogs about daily life, ethical living and her recovery from illness at blog.puriri.nz.

Tim Jones

Grow Good & B Corp Ambassador

Tim’s purpose is building people and organisations with heart because, he says, we all have the innate desire to do good in the world. He works with those who have a passion and but lack resources (or vice-versa) to refine their purpose and grow and maximise their impact. Because ultimately, he says, you need both well-defined purpose and resources to make our best contribution and live life to the fullest.

Via specialist coaching and training programmes Tim works with people and organisations like yours to help them define their big-picture purpose and grow positive change in the world. Tim will help us during the conference via interactive workshop activities to come up with ways we can work better together to extend our influence and move forward together. For more visit www.growgood.co

Pete Williams

Victoria University of Wellington

Pete recently submitted his PhD thesis in Development Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. His research explores the rise of ethical product labelling in South American viticulture, applying cases studies from fair trade certifications in Chilean wine and the designation of origin mark for pisco, an unaged brandy, from Peru. These examples demonstrate the potential of such ethical product labels in sharing the benefits of global trade while promoting more inclusive and localised development. Pete’s research also highlights the risks and challenges experienced in ethical product labelling, including the appropriation of ‘ethical value’ by powerful actors and the further marginalisation of vulnerable groups in the Global South.

Pete has a long-term passion for international development and his PhD and Master’s research examine the challenges of globalisation faced by small-scale farmers in the Global South. Prior to completing his PhD, Pete has worked in a number of NGOs, including Save the Children and the Council for International Development.

Dr Jay Matenga

Dr Jay Matenga began life in a duplex state house in Cannons Creek, Porirua. He now wrestles with intercultural complexity as a senior leader in the global Christian missions community.

From his father's heritage, Jay is of Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Ngati Porou and Kai Tahu iwi and can track his whakapapa back twenty-one generations to Chief Tamatea and the Takitimu. Jay's mother is of British descent.

Drawing on his own genetic hybridity, Jay's doctoral work applied a Kaupapa Māori methodology to counterpoint dominant Individualist assumptions with a Collectivist-oriented lived reality of Māori Christians' experience of whānau and whanaungatanga.

Jay is applying his findings to contexts where diverse cultural assumptions intersect and often conflict. He maintains that morality is culturally constructed whereas ethics should be seen as transcendent, and that intercultural harmony and growth emerges from shared ethics. For more visit jaymatenga.com

Jennie Ekigbo

Jennie’s journey into social justice probably began at birth. A diaspora born and raised Nigerian, she was exposed to issues of colonisation, racial discrimination and inequality from a very young age. At her primary school speech competition, she addressed these very issues!

Jennie has been involved in a range of social justice initiatives around the world. In Kenya she worked with International Justice Mission, seeking legal justice for society’s most vulnerable. In New Zealand she worked with an agency specialising in addressing culturally sanctioned violence in ethnic minority communities.

Jennie holds an MA in Development Studies from the University of Auckland. Her thesis examined the practice of widowhood disinheritance in Nigeria, finding a connection between gender-based violence and economic injustice. Her B.Comm (Hons) dissertation examined economic injustice faced by developing countries seeking trade access for their primary exports.

Jennie remains a passionate advocate of social justice. Her interests include race, gender, economic justice and the intersection of the Christian faith and social justice. She believes that without holistic justice, efforts to improve economic well-being will always come up short. Jennie now works with Habitat for Humanity New Zealand.

Michelia Miles

Trade Aid

Fair trade is a universal framework with universal principles that provide guarantees to Western consumers about fair payment and working conditions for disadvantaged producer groups. But is it just another "solution" imposed on producers from the outside? Can it work for unique indigenous cultures across multiple continents? How compatible is fair trade with local solutions for local problems? Is it a good fit with what indigenous theorists believe is essential for development?

Michelia Miles asked these questions of Trade Aid and their partnership with Peruvian fair trade organisation, MINKA, who work with Quechua producers in the Andes for her Masters of Indigenous Studies, and she shares her research findings with us.

Dr Robbie Francis

Co-Founder and Director - The Lucy Foundation

Dr Robbie Francis is a disability advocate, scholar and leader from Auckland. Born with a physical disability, Robbie has dedicated her personal, professional and academic life to advocating for the rights of marginalised populations. She is the co-founder and Director of The Lucy Foundation, an international social enterprise advocating for disability inclusion within the global coffee industry.

Robbie completed her doctorate at the University of Otago, where her research looked at inclusive and accessible peace building and the experiences of disabled Colombian and Venezuelan refugees and asylum seekers in Ecuador. Robbie has just recently returned from Colombia where she was working with coffee farmers who are land mine victims in the middle of an active conflict.

Robbie has been an expert advisor to the New Zealand Government on various strategies and policies, and is also a senior researcher at the Donald Beasley Institute, where she is monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New Zealand. For more visit www.thelucyfoundation.com

Ryan Richards

Comedy Actor

Ryan Richards is a New Zealand based actor, writer, comedian and voice artist currently living in Auckland. Since 2007, Ryan has been seen regularly on New Zealand Television screens and on stage at theatres throughout the country. Comedy theatre has always been Ryan's foremost passion. Working collaboratively with others, Ryan has created and produced nine original comedy productions over the past five years that have been staged in both Auckland and Wellington theatres. You will recognise Ryan from various roles in TV series including Shortland Street, Jono and Ben and Funny Girls as well as TV commercials. We are delighted to have Ryan add a little light hearted relief to our conference. For more visit www.RyanRichards.co.nz